1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photosensitive material processing apparatus which is capable of transporting long, narrow shaped photosensitive materials for processing, without attaching leaders to the photosensitive materials, even in the case in which at least two kinds of photosensitive materials having different widths are processed by a common processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Photosensitive materials, after being exposed, are generally subjected to various kinds of processing, such as development, bleaching, fixing, washing, and drying. These processing steps are automatically carried out by using a conveyer system. In an apparatus of this kind, a film which has been drawn out from a magazine by a supply mechanism is passed through a plurality of processing tanks, each having transport means such as transport belts and nip rollers for transporting the film, in the order in which processing is to be performed. Thereafter, the film is dried.
Examples of such conventional photosensitive material processing apparatuses is described below.
(1) Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 49-6925 discloses a photosensitive material processing apparatus which is provided with a housing for accommodating all the processing tanks and for shielding the tanks from light and an endless belt which circulates within the housing. A clamping arm having a plurality of small protrusions each having a mushroom-like shape is attached to the endless belt at an opening of the housing provided outside of the light-shielding section. The mushroom-like protrusions are made to pierce photosensitive material such as a film so as to transport the photosensitive material for processing. After processing, the photosensitive material is released from the mushroom-like protrusions at the above-mentioned opening.
(2) Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2-14693 discloses a photosensitive material processing apparatus which is provided with an endless timing belt for preventing the transport means from carrying a processing solution from an upstream processing tank to a successive downstream processing tank. In this apparatus, a leader attached to the film is caused to engage a plurality of protrusions provided on the outer side of the timing belt so as to transport the film. Also, arcuate guides are provided adjacent to portions of the timing belt which are curved for separating the leader and the film from the timing belt. Since the leader and the film are transported, while being bent, along the arcuate guides, the timing belt is provided in each of the processing tanks.
(3) Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 1-205166 discloses a photosensitive material processing apparatus in which a plurality of guide racks are provided in each of the processing tanks so as to guide photosensitive material. Each of the guide racks is equipped with guide width changing means for moving edge guides which contact the transverse edges of the photosensitive material in accordance with the widths of the photosensitive material. A common rotary shaft is supported by the plurality of processing tanks to run across the processing tanks, and a frictional transmission means is disposed between the common rotary shaft and each guide width changing means so that the edge guides in the respective racks are moved in accordance with the width of a photosensitive material to be processed.
(4) Japanese Utility Model Application Publication 39-21664 discloses a photosensitive material processing apparatus in which the lateral movement of each photosensitive material is restricted by guide grooves formed in both side walls of each processing tank so that the front and back surfaces of the photosensitive material are prevented from contacting the transport rollers. Each photosensitive material is transported by transport drive rollers which are provided at given locations along the guide grooves and which contact both side edges of the photosensitive material.
These conventional apparatuses, however, have the following drawbacks or problems. In the prior art device described in paragraph (1), it is necessary to perform the troublesome task of removing a film from the mushroom-like protrusions after processing. In the prior art device described in paragraph (2), it is necessary to perform the troublesome process of attaching a photosensitive material to a leader which is engaged with the timing belt before processing and removing the photosensitive material from the leader after processing. In the prior art device described in paragraph (3), the position changing mechanism, which is provided across all the processing tanks so as to change the positions of the edge guides, has a complicated structure which requires time consuming maintenance and which leads to an increase in production costs of the apparatus. In the prior art device described in paragraph (4), the apparatus itself has a relatively simple structure, but it can process only a single kind of photosensitive material having a particular fixed width because of the fixed distance between the opposing guide grooves.
As described above, when plural kinds of photosensitive materials having different widths are processed by conventional processing apparatuses, there arise problems in that the operation becomes complex, and the structure of the processing apparatuses becomes complicated, resulting in higher production costs.